As electronic technologies and communication technologies rapidly develop, some electronic apparatus, such as a mobile terminal, has become an indispensable part of the daily lives of people. It has involved many functions, bringing much convenience to the lives and work of people. And at the same time, the mobile terminals have many design limits in realizing these functions and hence reduce the flexibility of the whole design of the mobile terminals.
Typically, a mobile terminal needs a SIM card to be inserted to fulfill the communication function of the mobile terminal and thus, a structure needs to be provided in the body of the mobile terminal to identify the SIM card, which is referred to as a SIM card slot in this invention. The SIM card slot has fool-proof design; however, it generally needs a specific accommodating space or another component to realize proper use.
FIG. 1A is a schematic diagram of the structure of a SIM card slot 1 of a mobile terminal. As shown in FIG. 1A, the SIM card slot 1 is provided on the body of the mobile terminal and contains an accommodating space 2 and a fixed structure 3, the thickness of the accommodating space being equivalent to that of the SIM card, and its bottom being its elastic (flexible or resilient) contacts 4 in contact with the metal chip terminals of the SIM card. When the SIM card is placed in the accommodating space 2, the upper surface of the SIM card is flush with the upper surface of the accommodating space. The fixed structure 3 is used for fixing (positioning) the SIM card. The fixed structure 3 may be a metal piece with one side being capable of being lifted and another side being fixed to one side of the accommodating space, or a metal piece with two sides being respectively fixed to two sides of the accommodating space, where the SIM card is inserted and taken out through the design of the battery slot, or a metal piece with three sides being respectively fixed to three sides of the accommodating space, where the SIM card is also inserted and taken out through the design of the battery slot. For the structure shown in FIG. 1A, the fool-proof design is generally to make the shape of the accommodating space 2 to be adapted for that of the SIM card 1 to prevent wrong insertion of the SIM card.
FIG. 1B is a schematic diagram of the structure of another SIM card slot 10 of a mobile terminal. As shown in FIG. 1B, the SIM card slot 10 comprises a bottom 11 and a top 12, the top being made of metal, and of which at least two sides being fixed together with the corresponding sides of the bottom to form an accommodating space 13 for accommodating the SIM card and for the insertion of the SIM card. Elastic contacts 14 of the mobile terminal are exposed through openings in the bottom. When the SIM card is correctly inserted into the accommodating space, its metal terminals are in contact with the elastic contacts 14. Some other openings 16 are provided in the top 12 to fulfill other functions. For the structure shown in FIG. 1B, the fool-proof design may be realized through a method in which identification of the correct direction for insertion is printed at a peripheral position of the SIM card slot 10 of the mobile phone.
The fool-proof design of the SIM card slot 1, 10 shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B needs either a specific accommodating space, or additional identification, increasing manufacture cost and process.